DESPLECHIN ADMIRES 'CLEVER' DE PALMABUT CARVES HIS OWN "PERSONAL" NICHEThe French director of the recent Un Conte de Noel (A Christmas Tale), Arnaud Desplechin, tells the Toronto Sun's Bruce Kirkland that he is carving out his own niche as a personal filmmaker, because he is not clever enough "to be more clever than Brian De Palma." Kirkland states that Desplechin admires De Palma very much "for his complex thrillers." Desplechin is quoted as saying, "But I am not a competitive guy. Perhaps what I can do is to be more personal." Kirkland also states that Desplechin "is on a quest to achieve what the films of Francois Truffaut inspired in him when he was young."

Speaking of Schrader...Kotto at Eat The Blinds has posted a photo essay about Paul Schrader's American Gigolo, which might be thought of as sort of an older sister to Brian De Palma's Scarface. Kotto states, "Both the opening shot and the soundtrack blaring Blondie's Call Me welcome viewers not only to the movie, but more importantly to the 1980's. The music, the clothes, the vapidity and the vanity...this is what defined the 80's and this is Paul Schrader's American Gigolo." Kotto concludes his essay with the following:

As far as thrillers go, AG is perhaps a little on the un-engaging side. While it does share many stylistic similarities to the work of Brian De Palma, Schrader proves to be less concerned with technique and aesthetics and much more fascinated by the underlying psychology of his characters. While De Palma's films tend to be over-the-top, AG is anything but the opposite; this may interest some, but it will surely bore others. One thing remains certain: few films established the 80's in the same way.

Schrader heads for BollywoodTo write & direct Extreme CityThe Hollywood Reporter this morning reported that Paul Schrader is ditching the "barren" hills of Hollywood for the creative freedom and built-in audiences of Bollywood. Schrader will write and direct Extreme City, a cross-cultural action film that, according to the Hollywood Reporter's Steven Zeitchik, will likely include musical numbers, although Schrader mentions in the article that "there doesn't need to be singing and dancing" in every Bollywood film. Regarding Hollywood, Schrader is reported to have said, "I've been getting indie movies made for 20 years. But I take a good look around and what I see is a barren, barren place -- in terms of the financial community, in terms of audiences, in terms of distribution. It's cold out there." Schrader told Zeitchik that in India, by contrast, one can still get audiences involved and also retain one's creative freedom. Schrader is out and about these days promoting his new Holocaust movie, Adam Resurrected, which stars Jeff Goldblum.

"Guy moves very quickly. He sets up a shot, two or three takes, moves on. Ridley at times had four different camera crews filming one scene. And this isn't for an action scene; it's for a talking scene."

"It opens with a bit of a bang, and then, about a third of the way in, a little ticking clock starts, and it moves faster and faster right up until the last frame. And you get to see Tom Cruise come face to face with Adolf Hitler!"

SCARFACE NATIONKEN TUCKER BOOK EXPLORES SCARFACE PHENOMENONA terrific new book by Entertainment Weekly's Ken Tucker looks at the Brian De Palma-directed Scarface as "the ultimate gangster movie," and explores "how it changed America." Scarface Nation is the title of the almost-300-page paperback, which Tucker has been promoting since its release last week. Last Tuesday (November 11), Tucker posted on The Best American Poetry blog about "what it’s like to send a book out into the world," and finding that his local Barnes & Noble store is only stocking two copies. On Wednesday, New York Magazine's Boris Kachka posted an interview with Tucker in which he asked the author why the Scarface cast and crew was "so reluctant to discuss its influence?" Tucker, who says that Al Pacino would talk to him about any Pacino movie other than Scarface, replied:

I think their interpretation of its acceptance in pop culture is that it somehow tarnishes the movie and they can’t understand that it’s what keeps it alive. I think they really ought to loosen up and embrace it. They should own their Scarface.

Tucker echoes Pauline Kael's estimation of Orson Wells' Citizen Kane when he calls Scarface a "shallow masterpiece," but he differentiates the two films in his book's introduction. He writes:

No, what Scarface is, in a sense, is something bigger, more outsized than [whatever it is that makes Citizen Kane "great"]. [Scarface] is a great and shallow masterpiece of pop, a work of diverse mongrel artistry. It's all surface, but, boy, what Brian De Palma, Oliver Stone, and Al Pacino applied to that surface. It glows, it glistens, it retains its sheen of power, glory, and shimmeringly decadent rot a quarter century after its release. It remains a tremendously exciting and dismaying piece of moviemaking, unique in the careers of every one of its various creators.

As a film and as a pop culture phenomenon, Tucker appreciates Scarface very much, and his book takes a non-linear approach in exploring both the origins of De Palma's film and the unpredictable journey it has taken since it was released 25 years ago this month. Delving into the "disreputable and sneaky" way the film has and continues to seep into American culture (via posters, T-shirts, mansions, parties, etc.) Tucker concludes that "Scarface belongs to no single author, and therefore we are all free to be the auteurs of Tony Montana's saga, and his life everlasting."

TUCKER SAYS GOODNIGHT TO THE BAD GUYI will write more about this book later this week, delving into some of Stone's thoughts on the film via a new interview for Tucker's book. At the end of Scarface Nation, Tucker acknowledges that he consulted the "superb" De Palma a la Mod, as well as Bill Fentum's "invaluable" (and unfortunately now defunct) website, briandepalma.net. Tucker was also able to get a few quotes from De Palma when he ran into the director during the 2005 Toronto Film Festival. Tucker closes his book with the following about that instance:

At that time, [De Palma] said he would sit down for a more extensive interview. He subsequently declined all my follow-up requests. I will refrain from using a Scarfacian imprecation regarding this behavior, and simply say goodnight to the bad guy.

I should also mention that throughout the book, Tucker displays a fondness for several of De Palma's films, especially The Fury, which he describes in loving detail as a way to delve into some of De Palma's stylistic themes. In this section, Tucker states, "The climax of The Fury is, in its way, just as bloody and tragic and 'operatic' as that of Scarface." However, as I loved Tucker's book overall, it pains me to say that he should have gone back and looked at The Fury more closely, because he gets certain significant facts about who was killing who and what actress was playing the one getting killed, etc., wrong. This leads Tucker to suggest inadvertantly that Gillian purposely killed a woman in a savage manner prior to meeting Robin, which simply is not true. But don't let that dissuade you from checking out this unique and otherwise well-informed book.

DIRECTORAMAAs 24 Lies A Second webmaster Peet Gelderblom's new season of Directorama comics begins Monday (with the notorious "Alan Smithee" being thrown into the "negative space" mix), it seems a good time to post some links to a couple of interviews Peet has done in recent weeks to promote his new book, which collects the first series of Directorama webcomic filmstrips, along with 31 additional movie-related cartoons. You can buy the book from Lulu. You can listen to Peet discuss the book in an October 12th interview he did with our friends at the Movie Geeks United! radio show by clicking here. And a couple of weeks ago, Dennis Cozzalio, who provides the forward in the Directorama book, interviewed Peet at his blog, Sergio Leone And The Infield Fly Rule. In the latter, Cozzalio asks Peet about the first Brian De Palma films he'd ever seen:

Gee, I'm not sure. Either Dressed to Kill, Carrie or Blow Out. In my memory I discovered these three pictures almost simultaneously. Whatever it was, I watched it in horrible pan-and-scan and was mesmerized anyway. What really triggered my interest in De Palma were a few preview clips of Body Double on TV; that marvelous beach scene and a bit of Jake Scully running to save Gloria from that hulking Indian with the giant drill. I was too young to be allowed to see it in the cinema, but I made a vow to rent Body Double as soon as it became available. The restrictions for theaters were harsh, but in the early ‘80s a 13-year-old could go and rent Faces of Death and no one would blink an eye.

While 24 Lies A Second is defunct (the site's articles can now be found posted at The House Next Door), we look forward to a new series of Directorama strips.

UNTOUCHABLES CHURCH SCENESHOT-BY-SHOT BREAKDOWN AT 'DON'T MAKE A SCENE' BLOGIn the "Don't Make A Scene" column today at the blog Let's Not Talk About Movies, Yojimbo posted a compelling shot-by-shot, line-by-line breakdown of the church scene from Brian De Palma's The Untouchables. Here is an excerpt from Yojimbo's post:

Director Brian De Palma (one of those directors who never leaves anything to chance) shoots from just two angles*--both two-shots because the scene is about the two men and their needs: Ness' for Malone's help and expertise, and Malone for Ness' commitment. The first shot looks up at them from a forward pew, looking through their hands at their up-turned faces. In Malone's hands are his fob with his master key and a medal of St. Jude ("the patron saint of Lost Causes" "...and cops," as we'll find out later.), which swings like a guillotine at times in the scene. Ness' hands are folded together, as if in prayer, as if pleading. The other shot is more difficult to get--it required a split-focal lens that would keep both Ness and Malone in sharp focus despite their different proximities to the camera. Ness is in profile (an angle that connotes dismissal, or supplication) Malone is talking directly at Ness, and to the camera, and that angle is saved for the most dramatically charged speeches. Ness' face is soft, doughy, unsure. And Malone's is craggy, lined and in constant conflict--at points angry, pitying, weak, and hard. The men are talking about life and death--for themselves and the city of Chicago. Good intentions are not good enough. You have to do what needs to be done to win. To not win is to die. It's all or nothing. There is no "middle way." Commit or die. The scene begins with Ness looking at the medal in Malone's hands. It reaches its crux when Malone looks at Ness' praying hands. Both tell each men all they need to know.

Be sure to read all the way to the bottom, where Yojimbo relates a story about Sean Connery playing 18 holes of golf before filming his "advice" scene in two takes.

IRVING TO PRESENT THE FURYNEW PRINT TO BE SCREENED IN NYC NOV. 30Amy Irving will be on hand to introduce and discuss Brian De Palma's The Fury when the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York screens a brand new print of the film November 30th. The screening is part of the Society's weekend-long series, "Problem Child: A Cinematic Display of Bad Behavior," which runs Thanksgiving weekend (Nov. 28-30) at the Walter Reade Theater. The Film Society web site has this to say about the film:

This seldom seen, gripping and vibrant science-fiction spy chiller ranks with Carrie, Scarface and The Untouchables as director Brian De Palma’s best work. Featuring Richard Kline’s superb cinematography, it constantly delivers punch after punch of fear and suspense.

MOLLY HAUNTED BY CARRIEAS WELL AS ROSEMARY'S BABYThe Haunting Of Molly Hartley was not screened for critics prior to opening this weekend in North America. The Toronto Star's Tony Wong caught a screening this weekend, and suggests that the new film has "the subtlety of a '70s-style psychological thriller," even though it is "tailored for the Gossip Girl set." [Gossip Girl, incidentally, currently features De Palma's step daughter Willa Holland as a special guest-- Willa gets a rave review for her first episode from Entertainment Weekly's Tim Stack.] Wong further states that Molly is inspired in parts by Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby and Brian De Palma's Carrie. Here's an excerpt from Wong's 2-and-a-half-star review:Rosemary's baby is all grown up, and her name is Molly Hartley.

But will tweenies raised on a diet of rental torture porn appreciate the subtlety of a '70s-style psychological thriller?

Although the film is tailored for the Gossip Girl set, and even stars the show's hunk, Chace Crawford, this may be too tame for the Saw V generation. Still, if you get past the retro Nancy Drew title, this is a worthwhile effort.

Molly Hartley (Haley Bennett of Music & Lyrics) is nearing her 18th birthday, and evil lurks everywhere – from the mean girls at her private school to the fact that she has been promised to the devil. After her mother has a breakdown, Molly moves to a private school and gets the attention of rich kid Joseph (Crawford). While trying to adjust to her new life and strange friends, she is haunted by dark visions.

Director Mickey Liddell borrows heavily from Roman Polanski's classic fright film and throws in a nod to Brian De Palma. Molly's knife-wielding, verse-spewing mother is straight out of Carrie.

This is not necessarily a bad thing. This year the Hollywood horror factory has plundered Japanese, Spanish and Korean works for inspiration, so there's nothing wrong with dipping into the classics.

Bennett pulls off a sense of deep vulnerability, evocative of MiaFarrow's turn in Rosemary's Baby, in a role that is more demanding than most teen horror flicks.